'Others were one of 13!'

Dad-of-two David Carey (65) is a psychologist at Dublin's Connolly Counselling Centre. He says: "Where I grew up in Connecticut, three kids was a large family. Then I moved to Ireland 20 years ago and people my age were telling me they were one of nine or 13 – I can only imagine how being an only child in Ireland might feel quite unusual!

Dad-of-two David Carey (65) is a psychologist at Dublin's Connolly Counselling Centre. He says: "Where I grew up in Connecticut, three kids was a large family. Then I moved to Ireland 20 years ago and people my age were telling me they were one of nine or 13 – I can only imagine how being an only child in Ireland might feel quite unusual!

"I don't think the spoilt label is fair at all because so much depends on the psychology of the parents and how they link up cause and effect. Over-gratifying a child can be damaging, but being an only child doesn't automatically mean you'll be over-gratified.

"I think we just live in a world were we like to label each other to make sense of things, but really we're all more alike than different.

"The only thing I would find is that being in a room with children and noise causes me discomfort, possibly because I didn't develop that tolerance of busyness in a confined space at an early age.

"It unnerves me in a way it never seems to affect my friends who grew up in larger families."